18,816 research outputs found
Nitrate pollution from horticultural production systems : tools for policy and advice from field to catchment scales
The implementation of the Nitrates Directive has imposed a requirement to restrict N fertiliser and manuring practices on farms across the EU in order to reduce nitrate losses to water. These requirements have since been extended by the more demanding Water Framework Directive, which broadens the focus from the control of farm practices to a consideration of the impacts of pollutants from all sources on water quality at a catchment or larger scale. Together, these Directives set limits for water quality, and identify general strategies for how these might be achieved. However, it is the responsibility of policy makers in each Nation State to design the details of the management practices and environmental protection measures required to meet the objectives of the legislation, to ensure they are appropriate for their specific types of land use and climate. This paper describes various modelling tools for comparing different cropping and land use strategies, and illustrates with examples how they can inform policy makers about the environmental benefits of changing management practices and how to prioritise them. The results can help to provide the specific advice on N fertiliser and land use management required by farmers and growers at a field scale, and by environmental managers at a catchment or larger scale. A further example of how results from multiple catchments can be up-scaled and compared using Geographic Information Systems is also outlined
A Universal Temperature Profile for Galaxy Clusters
We investigate the predicted present-day temperature profiles of the hot,
X-ray emitting gas in galaxy clusters for two cosmological models - a current
best-guess LCDM model and standard cold dark matter (SCDM). Our
numerically-simulated "catalogs" of clusters are derived from high-resolution
(15/h kpc) simulations which make use of a sophisticated, Eulerian-based,
Adaptive Mesh-Refinement (AMR) code that faithfully captures the shocks which
are essential for correctly modelling cluster temperatures. We show that the
temperature structure on Mpc-scales is highly complex and non-isothermal.
However, the temperature profiles of the simulated LCDM and SCDM clusters are
remarkably similar and drop-off as
where and . This decrease
is in good agreement with the observational results of Markevitch et al.(1998)
but diverges, primarily in the innermost regions, from their fit which assumes
a polytropic equation of state. Our result is also in good agreement with a
recent sample of clusters observed by BeppoSAX though there is some indication
of missing physics at small radii (). We discuss the
interpretation of our results and make predictions for new x-ray observations
that will extend to larger radii than previously possible. Finally, we show
that, for , our universal temperature profile is consistent with
our most recent simulations which include both radiative cooling and supernovae
feedback.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, full-page
version of Fig. 2 at
http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/+AH4-cloken/PAPERS/UTP/f2.ep
On equivariant characteristic ideals of real classes
Let be an odd prime, an abelian totally real number field,
its cyclotomic -extension,
We give an explicit description of the equivariant characteristic ideal of
over for all odd by applying M. Witte's formulation of an equivariant main conjecture (or
"limit theorem") due to Burns and Greither. This could shed some light on
Greenberg's conjecture on the vanishing of the -invariant of
$F_\infty/F.
An integrated study of uranyl mineral dissolution processes: etch pit formation, effects of cations in solution, and secondary precipitation
Understanding the mechanism(s) of uranium-mineral dissolution is crucial for predictive modeling of U mobility in the subsurface. In order to understand how pH and type of cation in solution may affect dissolution, experiments were performed on mainly single crystals of curite, Pb2+3(H2O)2[(UO2)4O4(OH)3]2, becquerelite, Ca(H2O)8[(UO2)6O4(OH)6], billietite, Ba(H2O)7[(UO2)6O4(OH)6], fourmarierite Pb2+1−x(H2O)4[(UO2)4O3−2x(OH)4+2x] (x= 0.00-0.50), uranophane, Ca(H2O)5[(UO2)(SiO3OH)]2, zippeite, K3(H2O)3[(UO2)4(SO4)2O3(OH)], and Na-substituted metaschoepite, Na1−x[(UO2)4O2−x(OH)5+x] (H2O)n. Solutions included: deionized water; aqueous HCl solutions at pH 3.5 and 2; 0.5mol L−1 Pb(II)-, Ba-, Sr-, Ca-, Mg-, HCl solutions at pH 2; 1.0mol L−1 Na- and K-HCl solutions at pH 2; and a 0.1mol L−1 Na2CO3 solution at pH 10.5. Uranyl mineral basal surface microtopography, micromorphology, and composition were examined prior to, and after dissolution experiments on micrometer scale specimens using atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Evolution of etch pit depth at different pH values and experimental durations can be explained using a stepwave dissolution model. Effects of the cation in solution on etch pit symmetry and morphology can be explained using an adsorption model involving specific surface sites. Surface precipitation of the following phases was observed: (a) a highly-hydrated uranyl-hydroxy-hydrate in ultrapure water (on all minerals), (b) a Na-uranyl-hydroxy-hydrate in Na2CO3 solution of pH 10.5 (on uranyl-hydroxy-hydrate minerals), (c) a Na-uranyl-carbonate on zippeite, (d) Ba- and Pb-uranyl-hydroxy-hydrates in Ba-HCl and Pb-HCl solutions of pH 2 (on uranophane), (e) a (SiOx(OH)4−2x) phase in solutions of pH 2 (uranophane), and (f) sulfate-bearing phases in solutions of pH 2 and 3.5 (on zippeite
GBM Observations of V404 Cyg During its 2015 Outburst
V404 Cygni was discovered in 1989 by the X-ray satellite during its
only previously observed X-ray outburst and soon after confirmed as a black
hole binary. On June 15, 2015, the Gamma Ray Burst Monitor (GBM) triggered on a
new outburst of V404 Cygni. We present 13 days of GBM observations of this
outburst including Earth occultation flux measurements, spectral and temporal
analysis. The Earth occultation fluxes reached 30 Crab with detected emission
to 100 keV and determined, via hardness ratios, that the source was in a hard
state. At high luminosity, spectral analysis between 8 and 300 keV showed that
the electron temperature decreased with increasing luminosity. This is expected
if the protons and electrons are in thermal equilibrium during an outburst with
the electrons cooled by the Compton scattering of softer seed photons from the
disk. However, the implied seed photon temperatures are unusually high,
suggesting a contribution from another source, such as the jet. No evidence of
state transitions is seen during this time period. The temporal analysis
reveals power spectra that can be modeled with two or three strong, broad
Lorentzians, similar to the power spectra of black hole binaries in their hard
state
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